QAD Cloud ERP 2019 and Other Solution Innovation Highlights

As of April 2, 2019, we are pleased to announce the availability of QAD Cloud ERP 2019, the latest version of QAD’s flagship ERP solution that includes the Channel Islands User Experience (UX) and the QAD Enterprise Platform. We are also excited to unveil major updates to several other solutions in the QAD solution portfolio. The goal of all of our innovations is to help provide our customers with the agility they need to effectively respond to the opportunities in their rapidly changing business environments.

QAD Cloud ERP 2019 Highlights

For QAD Cloud ERP, enhancements span all of the business-oriented areas of the solution, the Channel Islands UX and the QAD Enterprise Platform, including:

Four new roles were added to the Channel Islands UX, bringing the total of role-specific user experiences to 44, with full end-to-end business process support available to 18 of those roles. Channel Islands UX includes full personalization to each role and other UX elements to ensure optimal user productivity.

A new Data Lake residing in the QAD Enterprise Platform optimizes the performance of large, complex real-time queries that users request from the Action Centers.

In terms of Action Centers, we added the Operations Action Center to improve Production Order visibility as well as the Maintenance Management Action Center to provide in-depth visibility of a company’s assets.

Related to the Maintenance Management Action Center, QAD Enterprise Asset Management has been enhanced for the handling of maintenance requests, orders and closes and includes new project visualization capabilities.

In the Customer Management and Service Management areas, the customer scheduled orders and releases capability offers a refreshed UX, delivering greater visibility into scheduled releases to enhance customer service levels. Additional innovations were made in the areas of sourcing, inventory and order visibility within depot repair and related material management processes.

Updates to Financials include enhanced processes for supplier invoices, receiver matching, payments and payment selections, allowing for more accurate and timely supplier payment processing. Further functional improvements were made in the areas of revenue recognition, accounts payable and accounts receivable. Financials now offers simplified setup and maintenance using the intuitive Channel Islands UX.

Also, in the Financials area, QAD Fixed Assets was reengineered to fully utilize the Channel Islands UX, and received an extensive set of enhancements to provide complete fixed asset accounting and reporting process. This has resulted in more accurate fixed asset records, more efficient processes and lower costs associated with managing assets.

In the Supply Chain area, material planners and directors of materials can now access cross-release management and take advantage of improved release management by exception. It also includes information drill-down for release analysis resulting in improved efficiency and more accurate supplier plans.

Other QAD Solution Highlights

Some of the highlights of new versions of the solutions related to QAD Cloud ERP include:

Several features of the QAD Supplier Portal were enhanced, such as a more streamlined approach to supplier self-service, richer real-time collaboration and the addition of more alert capabilities to help customers respond to supply disruptions and maximize supplier performance. The QAD Supplier Portal, over the course of recent updates, now takes full advantage of the Channel Islands UX.

QAD CEBOS Quality Management System added new capabilities around customer complaints, request for quote and work manager, making it easier for customers to manage regulatory reporting, the sourcing process and other types of projects.

QAD Automation Solutions now provides comprehensive warehousing extensions and a managed service to reduce the burden on customer IT staffs and lower the cost of operational support.

Lastly, the QAD Internationalization (I19) program continues to help manufacturers reduce risk and improve profitability by lowering the cost of compliance doing business globally. QAD Cloud ERP 2019 includes updates to 11 country extensions and includes a new extension in support of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) requirements in the UK. In addition, the latest release meets the reporting requirements mandated by the Chinese government, enabling QAD Cloud ERP to achieve China certification. QAD Cloud ERP 2019 supports the legal requirements for 63 countries.

Key Contributors

We want to thank the countless customers and partners who shared their ideas with us, contributing to the many enhancements we are unveiling today. We also want to thank QAD’s business consultants and vertical expert teams for similarly identifying changes in manufacturing business best practice and industry changes that are reflected in this release. Finally, thank you so much to the QAD R&D team for their hard work to make these innovations a reality and to their never-ending attention to quality. QAD knows that its customers depend on QAD’s solutions to work right and perform optimally, and our R&D team leaves no stone unturned to meet those needs.

Bill has worked in the manufacturing space for over 30 years, developing and supporting business systems. At QAD, Bill is responsible for the strategic direction, development and delivery of the entire suite of QAD's solutions, as well as ensuring that QAD products meet the international requirements of our global manufacturing customers. Six kids, seven grandchildren and three horses keep Bill happily busy. He also enjoys dirt bike riding, skiing, hiking, and traveling.